Bryson DeChambeau, John Daly — and 7 observations as they try to break 50

John Daly, you may have witnessed over his 37-year pro career, takes his club well past parallel on the backswing. The unconventional move is among, let’s say, his many eccentricities.  

So, too, it seems, is its origin story. 

“I never had short clubs,” Daly explained. “I took my dad’s clubs out when I was 4, and the first club I hit was a 4-iron. I was so weak, the club just fell. 

“Then I see the club in my left eye, that’s when I thought you should come down.”

Daly was talking on Bryson DeChambeau’s newest Break 50 YouTube video, and there’s some draw to give it a click. There’s DeChambeau, the now two-time U.S. Open winner who’s quirky in altogether different ways. There’s the concept: DeChambeau and a guest try to shoot sub-50 from a course’s forward tees. Last month, he tried with Donald Trump.

This iteration starred Daly, who dished on the birth of his swing just 62 seconds in. Notably, after asking his fellow two-time major winner about it, DeChambeau himself tried. He thinned one, and Daly laughed.  

Here, then, are six more observations, though you should watch it all first, which you can do by clicking here or scrolling immediately below. 

2. ‘Get fitted with your grip, not your clubs’

DeChambeau, as has been widely reported, plays with single-length irons, and Daly noticed on the range, shortly after the backswing talk. He also spotted that DeChambeau played with bigger grips, which led to this exchange:

Said DeChambeau: “Big grips.” 

Said Daly: “Like me.” 

Said DeChambeau: “Yup.” 

Said Daly: “It’s all about trying to teach amateurs how to play golf. Get fitted with your grip, not your clubs. The smaller the grip is — if you put your hands on a grip, and you take it back, and there’s a gap between your left arm and your right hand, you’re screwed. That means you’re not controlling the golf club. So go get fitted for grips. Nobody does that.” 

Said DeChambeau: “Nobody does.” 

Said Daly: “Nobody does it. I think the bigger the grip is, the better you’re going to play.” 

Said DeChambeau: “Yup, agree.” 

3. ‘Comfort and control’

Throughout the round, Daly played barefoot, and on the 18th hole, DeChambeau joined him. After their tee shots, Daly revealed that he practices sans shoes. 

“You know why?” Daly asked. “Balance.”

Asked DeChambeau: “Feel better?”

Said Daly: “Balance.”

Said DeChambeau: “Gives you that comfort and control?”

Said Daly: “Especially 120 in.”

4. ‘I was going to be the No. 1 putter on the PGA Tour’

After 11, DeChambeau asked Daly what the best putting streak he’d ever been on.

“In ’04, when I won Torrey Pines, Vijay beat me in a playoff, Tiger beat me in a playoff,” Daly started. “But that year, I dedicated myself to practice, because, you know, I didn’t have any injuries back then. 

“I was going to be the No. 1 putter on the PGA Tour — and I was.”

Said DeChambeau: “That’s wild.”

Said Daly: “I just got so tired of hitting greens …”

Said DeChambeau: “Missing putts?”

Said Daly: “It wasn’t like 5-footers and 4-footers. I mean, it was like the 10-footers that you have to make when you’re going to win. Fifteen-footers. Whether it was for birdie, eagle, par. Pars are the most important because that keeps it going. A bad chip? All right, just make the putt. 

“So I dedicated myself, and I think I probably hit — I can’t imagine how many putts I hit that year, just practicing.”

Said DeChambeau: “That’s the thing. I was a terrible putter. I tried face-on putting. I don’t know if you remember that. Like, I was doing face-on putting. I was doing everything.”

Said Daly: “Old Sam Snead.”

Said DeChambeau: “Yeah, yeah. And it just didn’t work for me, but I eventually found something that worked and just used it ever since.” 

Said Daly, extending his fist for a fist bump: “You’re a major winner, baby. Just like me.” 

(Editor’s note: It wasn’t entirely clear which putting stat Daly was referring to, though in 2004, he did rank fifth on the PGA Tour in putting average, at 1.736.)

5. ‘It’s the worst thing in life. Look at me’

A couple times during the round, DeChambeau started to calculate what was needed on upcoming holes to break 50, only to be stopped by Daly.

After the first hole, Daly’s advice was: “No, no, we’re going to play [hole] 2.”

After the seventh hole, his thought was: “Don’t ever get ahead of yourself. It’s the worst thing in life. Look at me.” 

6. ‘How many Good Boys are you deep today?’

During the round, Daly drank Good Boy Vodka drinks emblazoned with his name and image, and a member of DeChambeau’s team at one point wondered:

“How many Good Boys are you deep today?”

“Oh, I started drinking at 9 this morning,” Daly said. “Um, might be the 20th. 

“I’ve slowed down. I’ve slowed down a little bit. Because this is an important day — I’m with my son, and we are going to break 50.” 

Where the drinks were stored is also worth a mention. 

They were under the hood of his golf cart. A glance showed about 25 waiting to be opened. 

The score

We won’t spoil whether DeChambeau and Daly broke 50 from the par-71 forward tees at Old Hickory Country Club in Old Hickory, Tennessee. 

You can find out by clicking here or immediately scrolling below. It’s also worth noting here that as of 7 p.m. ET, about seven hours after its release, the video had just over 700,000 views.  

Nick Piastowski

Golf.com Editor

Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across the golf space. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash away his score. You can reach out to him about any of these topics — his stories, his game or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.